Society for Range Management

Rangelands of the Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Uzbekistan by G. Gintzburger; K. N. Toderich; B. K. Mardonov; M. M. Mahmudov Review by: David L. Scarnecchia Journal of Range Management, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Mar., 2004), pp. 226-227 Published by: Allen Press and Society for Range Management Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4003924 . Accessed: 12/11/2013 07:10
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Book Reviews
Natural Grace: The Charm, Wonder, and Lessons of Pacific Northwest Animals and Plants. By William Dietrich.2003. University of WashingtonPress. Seattle, Washington.236 p. US$16.95 paper.ISBN 0-295-98293-4. or to as an animal?Whether How wouldyou like to be referred not you like it, thatis the firstthingthatWilliamDietrichdoes in andLessons his latestbook,NaturalGrace:TheCharm,Wonder, Animalsand Plants. In fact, he doesn'tjust of Pacific Northwest out an says: "Youanimalyou."From imply it, he comes straight there, he allows you to wanderthroughessays about the little whatit is. thingsthatmakethe PacificNorthwest Natural Grace is the thirdand most recentof authorWilliam Dietrich'snon-fictionbooks aboutthe Pacific Northwest.It is a collectionof shortessays adaptedfrom his articlesin the Seattle Times' Pacific Northwestmagazine.Rangingfrom geology and jellyfish to geoducks (gooey-ducks) and cedar trees, Natural on a wide rangeof topics. These topics Grace offers information in sections that groupessays with similarfeatures. are arranged For example, the section entitled Secret and Small includes essays on streamlife, dirt,andspiders,amongothers.Most of the essays are undera dozen pages in lengthand includesketchesby illustrator BrendaCunningham. The book also includesan index, as well as a suggestedreadinglist. I foundboth of these features to be handy,especially since the essays encouragethe readerto dig moredeeplyandfurther studythe PacificNorthwest. Greaterunderstandingof the natural world is the common threadthatties togetherDietrich'sessays. His belief is thatunderourselves.Each of standingnaturewill help us betterunderstand the 21 essays in the book offers an arrayof facts andcomparisons aboutnatureand humans.Many of these facts came from books in the suggestedreadinglist, as well as from personalinterviews with expertsfrom state,federal,andprivateorganizations. While offeringan eye-openingeducationaboutthe Northwest,Dietrich writesin such a fashionthatI often foundmyself grinning,even laughing.For example, while discussingthe success of mosquitoes, he writes: "Researchers in Canada once allowedthemselvesto be exposed to a swarmandwere bittennine thousand times in one minute,an experiencewhichcalls into questionthe entirescientificmethod." In this one sentenceI leamed just how good mosquitoesare at what they do, and also was reminded about how dedicated researchers are, althoughI suspect that they were graduatestudentsor intems. I was not surprisedto learn that Dietrichhad won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverageof the Exxon Valdezoil spill. His writing style is easy to follow andengagesthe reader'sattention. Plus, he uses a strongdose of charmandwit to liven up 236 pages of facts and scientific knowledge.Natural Grace is a book that can be easily readfrombeginningto end, or essay by essay, in whatever order the reader decides upon. Dietrich proves himself to be appealing yet technically competent in his knowledge of the Pacific Northwest.In fact he has every rightto begin by calling his readersanimals.He eventuallyapologizes for the reference, but then compare readers to an organism that is much more If you wish to learnwhichlife formthatis, I suggest unflattering. you discover your own copy of Natural Grace. - Cassandra Wannamaker, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.
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Rangelands of the Arid and Semi-arid Zones of Uzbekistan. K. N. Toderich, B. K. Mardonov, andM. M. By G. Gintzburger, Mahmudov.2003. Centre de CooperationInternationaleen RechercheAgronomiquepour le Development(CIRAD) and Researchin the dry the International Centerfor Agricultural flexible binding.ISBN areas (ICARDA).426 p. 76.O0Euros, CIRAD2-87614-555-3,ICARDA92-9127-137-8. interestin the rangelandsof Rapidly escalating international CentralAsia is manifestedin the new book, Rangelandsof the Arid and Semi-aridZones of Uzbekistan,a joint publicationof K. N. Toderich,B. K. CIRADand ICARDA,by G. Gintzburger, surandM. M. Mahmodov. It is a broad,introductory Mardonov, vey of the rangelandecosystems, and range-livestocksystems, andpastoralcultureof the region.The book drawson the collecresearchers thathave been active tive workof manyinternational in the area over recentdecades,includingthe work of Russianspeaking scientists, much of which has been inaccessible to Westernscientists. Zones of The contentof Rangelandsof the Arid and Semi-arid Uzbekistan essentiallyconsistsof 7 parts.Followinga briefintroduction, Part 1 examines aspects of the environment of the region, includinggeological, climatological,edaphic,phytogeofundamentals of the zones. The book graphic,and agricultural containsnotablydetaileddescriptions of the region'sbioclimatolstatisticalfigures showing cliogy, includingsome informative, matological relationships. Although the book has significant it containssurprisingly few data emphasison grazingthroughout, or estimates of forage production,especially considering the depth of the bioclimatologicalcontent. This first section does containsome descriptions anddataof trendsin livestocknumbers andagricultural landuse. The secondprincipalsectionof the book is a description of the flora and of the mainvegetationtypes of the region.This section includes a numberof detailedtables of data on the soils, flora, and especially, the climate of the area.Forageproduction data, andforagesupply/demand information areagainlimited.Some of the tables in this section are sufficientlydetailedthatthey might have been moved to an appendix,but they are uniformlywell designed. Section3, involvingthe descriptions of individual plants,is the largestsectionof the book. The plantspecies are arranged alphabeticallyby family name. Many of the plantnames are familiar here,whichwill remindNorthAmericarangemanagement scientists of the rich historyof plantintroductions from CentralAsia. The plant descriptionsare informative,and include individual subsectionsdescribingcharacteristics of morphology,reproduction, pastoralimportance, foddervalue, economic interest,habitat, and distribution.Each species description containsfrom 1 to 4 color photographs of the plantor its parts.Monthlyproduction tables are provided for a few species for which such data are available. Section4, on the ecology, biology andeconomicimportance of arid and semi-aridrange plants briefly surveys a range of subjects, includingfloral life forms,chemicalcompositionof plants, toxic and medicinalplants,plants that cause mechanicalinjury, seed characteristics andgermination ecology. The book's fifth main section, on rangeland improvement and rehabilitation in Uzbekistan, includes 17 pages of text and tables
JOURNAL OF RANGE MANAGEMENT57(2) March 2004

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on the history of, and the prospects and botanicaloptions for, rangeimprovement andrehabilitation. Severaltableshere include on species characteristics important generalinformation relevant to rangeimprovement. A 25-pagesectiondescribingthe naturereservesof Uzbekistan is the next majorsection. Includedhere are interestingdescriptions andphotographs of reserveslocatedin the differentecosystems of Uzbekistan. In the book's final mainsection,a one-pagestatement of general conclusionsprecedes10 pages of color maps,the book's extensive bibliogaphy, an interesting glossaryin Englishand Cyrillic, appendices of meteorological stations,climatological figures,and phylogenetics of major rangelandplants, a general index, and bios of the authorsand acknowledgements of their cooperating organizations. of Rangelandsof theAridand Semi-arid Any limitations Zones of Uzbekistanlikely reflect more the limited infornation available on the regionthanlimitationsof the authors'efforts.In any case, the book's outstanding featuresoverwhelmany limitations in availableregionaldata that might be manifestedin the book. An exhaustive summaryof admirablefeatures would include diversetechnicalelementsof contentandformat,but morephilosophically,the bookexemplifiesat least 3 important elements. First, the book shows how far range management science has come intemationally,not just as an applicationof ecology, but also as a management science integrallyinvolved with a broader culture. Its excellent photographsare particularlyeffective in bindingtogetherthe diverseelementsof the book's contentinto a coherentculturallandscape,and shouldremindWeserners (of a couple of kinds)of the diversityof potentialenvironmental, ecological, and cultural content of range management science. Rarelyhas rangemanagement science seemedmorecoherent. Second,plenty of information useful in management is included in a thoroughly bioclimatological, ecological, and cultural

tribute to how attractivelyrange managementscience can be to bothprofessionals andto the public.A packagedandpresented text that keeps moving, insightfulphotography, efficient, attractive figures,and concise tables are combinedwith an energizing formatto create an aesthetic scientific contribution. Rarelyhas range management science ever looked better. - David L. StateUniversity, Washington Pullman, Washington. Scarnecchia, Battling Resistance to Antibiotics and Pesticides: An Economic Approach. Edited by RamananLaxminarayan. 2003. Resourcesfor the FuturePress, Washington, DC. 377p. US$65.00 hardback. ISBN 1-891853-5 1-1. Researchersin disparatefields now agree that the growing resistanceof bacteriato antibioticsandpests to pesticidesthreatens to undo some of the most noteworthyadvances that have takenplace in agriculture and in publichealth.As a resultof this agreement, economists, biologists, and researchers in public healthhave begunto focus increasing research on some attention of the most vexing questions concerning the phenomenonof resistance. This important editedbook consistsof 12 chapters and relatedcommentaries. The individualchapterswere presentedas papersat a conferenceon the economicsof resistanceorganized by Resourcesfor the Futurein April 2001. Ratherthan proceed with a tedious chapterby chapter account, in the rest of this review,I shall focus on 7 of the 12 chapters. This shouldgive the reader a flavorfor the intellectual of this book. contributions The first3 chapters analyzeissues concemingthe optimalmanagementof resistance.ChapterI generalizesa previouseconomic-epidemiological model of the optimal use of antibiotics by allowingfor the possibilitythatthereare fitness costs associated with genes thatpermita disease to be resistantto treatment with antibiotics.What is the difference between economic and epidemiologicalcontrolpolicies? The authorsuse an optimalcontrol-theoretic framework to shed light on this basic question.The analysis in this chaptertells us that "the economic policy takes into accountboth the costs todayto treatandthe increasing costs associated with futuretreatmentbecause continuingto treat at high levels buildsup resistance" (p. 79). 2 is a generalization Chapter of Chapter1 in the sense thatthis chapterstudiesthe case of 2 antibioticsand 2 types of infection. Once again, an optimal control-theoretic frameworkis used to shed light on the antibiotictreatment regime when resistanceis renewable. Although the authorsare able to obtain definitive answersonly for specialcases, they intelligently discuss why it is not possible to determine the optimalsolution.As they helpfully pointout, their"Hamiltonian is not concavein the statevariables, and [hence]the standard sufficiencytheoremsof Mangasarian or Arrow andKurzdo not apply"(p. 51). The brief Chapter3 focuses on the value of treatment heterogeneity for infectious diseases. The authorsbegin by correctly notingthatfor well knownreasons,treatment homogeneityis valued in the medicalprofession.This notwithstanding, the authors use a staticframework to arguethat"froma societalperspective, it may even be desirableto treatsome patientswith moreexpensive drugseven while it is individually suboptimal to do so" (p. 67). Put somewhat differently,the basic argumenthere is that there are circumstances in which it is more desirableto treatan infectiousdiseasewith a mixedstrategy thatcalls for the use of an antibiotic cocktail. Even thoughthe problemof resistancemanagement is fundamentallystochasticin nature,a drawback of the chaptersI have
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context,with a refreshingly natural, unapologetictone characteristic of a partof the worldwheregrazingon a rangeis not a discouragingword. Grazingseems a natural partof ecology in this book-more natural that it ever does in currentAmericanbooks on ecology or grazingmanagement, or in books from any region where grazingis not naturally acceptedas the majorelement of the prevailing culture. Rarely has range managementscience seemedmorecomfortable. Third,as a resultof (1) and (2), the rangemanagement science in the book does not seem economicallymarginalized to irrelevance by pressures of industrialized, specializedagribusiness and eco-business.Rangemanagement science is inherently important for the landscapeand the culture.Rarelyhas rangemanagement science seemedmorerelevant. Rangelands of theAridand Semi-Arid Zonesof Uzbekistan will be an indispensablereferencefor range managementscientists and rangemanagersin CentralAsia andpartsof it will be fascinatingreadingfor individuals involvedwith rangeland plants,the bioclimatologyof steppe regions, and pastoralsocieties. It will certainly be a valuable referential base for future regional research.In fact, any individualtraveling in the drier parts of Uzbekistanwho has morethana superficial interestin the climatology and ecology of the region would find this book extremely valuableas a field guideto plants,vegetationtypes,andclimate. Readerswill find photographs of Dr. Gintzburger and his colleaguesaccompanying theirbriefbios nearthe end of Rangelands of the Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Uzbekistan. Theirbook is a
JOURNAL OF RANGE MANAGEMENT57(2) March 2004

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